A hot batch of freshly fried chicken wings never goes out of style.
Chicken wings are one of America’s favorite finger foods, and there’s no shortage of wing joints throughout the Pittsburgh region.
Wing lovers apparently flock to join the private Facebook group “Pittsburgh Pizza, hoagie and wing joints,” with more than 34,000 members, chiming in with their preferred places to get wings.
“It’s like a Pittsburgh comfort food,” said Bonfire Restaurant and Watering Hole co-owner Chelsea Nasetka.
The Allegheny Township eatery is known for its wings and fried fish.
A longtime staple of Southern cuisine, fried chicken wings first showed up on a restaurant menu in Buffalo, N.Y., the Anchor Bar specifically, when one of the owners cooked leftover wings in hot sauce as an impromptu snack for her son and friends, according to the National Chicken Council.
The unusual wings were deemed delicious by the group. The next day, the owner added “Buffalo wings” to the menu — and the rest is history.
Wings really took flight nationwide when McDonald’s debuted Mighty Wings in select restaurants in 1990.
Chicken wings, once relegated to the original Buffalo flavor, have evolved with a smorgasbord of combined flavors like hot honey, sriracha, lemon pepper, jerk, Cajun, teriyaki and more.
Nox’s Tavern & Grille
720 Blaw Ave., Blawnox and 3008 William Flynn Hwy., Shaler
Nox’s Tavern & Grille manager Stephanie Betz is gearing up for wing mania in anticipation of the NFL Draft in Pittsburgh April 23-25.
“People Google us and stop in to eat our wings. Hopefully, they’re gonna stop in during the Draft and we can get all the business. It’s exciting,” said Betz, adding that people take advantage of Nox’s numerous televisions and wings for Draft watching.
“Hopefully people stay away from the city, a little bit, and come eat in Blawnox,” Betz said. “We will definitely feed you.”
Called wing dings, they come in more than 36 flavors, including the black and gold. Wing dings are market price, and a boneless wing basket will run patrons at the Blawnox location $11 and at the Shaler location $13 for 1.2 pounds.
“It’s the big seller and people like it because it has a Carolina seasoning base” —like a honey mustard sweet barbecue — “and I feel like in Pittsburgh everyone is into that flavor,” Betz said of the black-and-gold variety.
Cicero’s Bar & Grill
115 Third St., Leechburg
Olivia Rapone grew up around a lot of chicken wings.
As the daughter of Cicero’s Bar & Grill’s original owners, the late Ricky Albert and Melinda Albert, Rapone is continuing the wing tradition that celebrates 20 years this summer.
“They’ve become a staple in the Valley area,” said Rapone of the whole wings that are always fresh, never frozen. “People order our wings and this heaping basket comes out with jumbo chicken wings and our clientele just enjoys them.”
The dry wings are also popular.
Cicero’s newest wing flavor is garlic parmesan. The wing “tosser” sauce lineup includes flavors such as cattleman’s BBQ, stingin’ honey garlic, buttery ranch and buffalo ranch.
Wings are market price, while boneless wings are $8.49.
Redbeard’s Sports Bar & Grill
144 Sixth St., Downtown Pittsburgh
Upscale bar food in a contemporary setting with plenty of wings on the menu is what you’ll find at Redbeard’s in Pittsburgh’s Cultural District.
Longtime manager Brent Kightlinger said wings are a “giant focus” on the menu.
The staple wing sauce is Redbeard’s signature, and it’s both sweet and tangy. At Redbeard’s, six wings (rookie) are $11 and 12 (veteran) are $20.
“We’ve been open here since 2013 and are in a prime location, between the stadiums, five-star hotels and in the Cultural District,” Kightlinger said.
The jumbo wings at Redbeard’s are never frozen or par-cooked, so they take about 20 minutes.
With the impending NFL Draft, Kightlinger said he’s ordering product ahead of time to make sure the chicken wings are aplenty.
The latest wing sauce at Redbeard’s is black and gold, which Knightlinger said is similar to a Carolina barbecue and not too hot.
“We’re all kind of doing that now,” Kightlinger said. “I think Pittsburgh is known for their good wings.”
Dino’s Sports Lounge
3883 Route 30 East,Latrobe
Cold beer and a basket of chicken wings are the go-to pairing at this popular sports bar in Latrobe.
The “wings of joy” as described on the menu are available in boneless, too.
The wing flavor with biggest bragging rights is the sweet & hot wings (10 for $13.95) and deep frying them to perfection is the goal, said owner Dino DeCario.
“They’re made with our homemade hot sauce and honey sugar and a few of our spices,” DeCario said.
One half of Dino’s is a sports lounge and the other is a traditional dining room.
DeCario plans to order 25 percent more chicken wings to accommodate expected Draft diners.
Other popular wing flavors are slicker, garlic and Cajun.
“Slicker is a combination of our sweet garlic, parmesan, barbecue, hot and Lewis, a house made special mix of garlic, sriracha and hot sauce,” DeCario said. “Most people talk about our unique sauces and consistency that they crave.”
The Bonfire Restaurant & Watering Hole
5739 Leechburg Road, Allegheny Township
Bonfire wings have a bit of a recipe pedigree — and mystery — with both of their wing seasonings kept under wraps by co-owners and married couple Chelsea and Matt Nasetka.
The Western-themed Allegheny Township restaurant and bar still serves the original “Patty’s” wings recipe created by the original owner Patty Snyder, now retired and in her 80s.
“She came up with these wings and the seasonings and we absolutely had to keep this and maintain the tradition,” Chelsea Nasetka said. “It’s a rather dry seasoning on it and it does have a little bit of a kick, like a 7 out of 10 with the heat.”
Wing night is every Thursday from 5-9 p.m. with $1 wings, and Bonfire easily sells more than 50 dozen wings to customers.
They’re fresh, never frozen, whole jumbo wings and Bonfire uses large paper bags to drain the wings, absorb the grease and coat the wings with seasonings.
“I’ve been watching everybody to make sure they do it the right way. We have our own dry seasoning and it’s kept under wraps,” Chelsea Nasetka said.
Normal wing pricing is a dozen wings for $19 and half-dozen for $11.
Keeping Patty’s original wings on the menu is a priority.
“We have people who ask that we never change the wing seasoning and we haven’t changed anything,” she said. “We are back using all of the original recipes.”